My top FICTION reads of last year were 1.) The Monstrumologist, 2.) The Stand, and 3.) Sandman Slim. My top NON-FICTION reads of the year were 1.) Occult America, 2.) Christian Apologetics, and 3.) Outliers. A couple of these books were started and not finished. I’ve listed them because I spent enough time with the book to feel it deserved a “Read” status. Some of these books are anthologies (The Best Horror of the Year), essays (Mystery and Manners), and textbooks (Christian Apologetics), which I tend to read in chunks, rather than from beginning to end. Here’s the list:
FICTION
- Killing Floor, Lee Child
- Soul Trapper, S.J. Lennon
- Winter Rose, Rachel Marks
- Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman
- The Imago Sequence, Laird Barron
- Holes, Louis Sachar
- Comes a Horseman, Robert Liparulo
- The Best Horror of the Year (Volume Four), Ellen Datlow
- Descent Into Hell, Charles Williams
- Code Blue, Richard Mabry
- Greywalker, Kat Richardson
- Switched, Amanda Hocking
- Scream, Mike Dellosso
- The Stand, Stephen King
- Lost Mission, Athol Dickson
- Prodigal Son, Dean Koontz
- The Monstrumologist, Rick Yancey
- Ghostopolis, Doug TenNepal
- Sandman Slim, Richard Kadrey
NON-FICTION
- Mystery and Manners, Occasional Prose, Flannery O’Connor
- Occult America, Mitch Horowitz
- Generation Ex-Christian, Drew Dyck
- Fringeology, Steve Volk
- Christian Apologetics, Doug Groothius
- Godforsaken, Dinesh D’Souza
- Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell
All in all in was a good year for me. Especially considering that I’m a relatively slow reader. In 2013, I’m hoping to, at least, match the number of books I read last year. I’ll be doing some research on a non-fiction project, so I’m anticipating to read quite a few more non-fiction titles in 2013. Some books on my 2013 reading list:
- Bad Religion, Ross Douthat
- Incarceron, Catherine Fischer
- Kill the Dead, Richard Kadrey
- Vanish, Tom Pawlik
- You Lost Me, David Kinnaman
- Judas, Tosca Lee
- Foucault’s Pendulum, Umberto Eco
- The Next Christians, Gabe Lyons
So what were some of your favorite reads of the 2012? And what’s on your To-Be-Read list for 2013?
“Mystery and Manners” is one of my favorite books. This last year I read two of Neil Gaiman’s books–“American Gods” and “Anansi Boys”. I’m really ambivalent about Gaiman–can’t make up my mind if I like him or not. 🙂 I’ve read several of Dean Koontz’s “Odd Thomas” books, but I’ve fallen behind and need to catch up.
My lists:
Fiction:
“The Yellow Birds” by Kevin Powers
“The Snow Child” by Eowyn Ivey
“Gilead” by Marilynne Robinson
“Home” by Marilynne Robinson
“Blasphemy: New & Selected Stories” by Sherman Alexie
“The Brief History of the Dead” by Kevin Brockmier
“The Complete Stories” by Flannery O’Connor
Non-fiction:
“Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Won’t Stop Talking” by Susan Cain
“Washington: A Life” by Ron Chernow
“Alexander Hamilton” by Ron Chernow
“The Terrible Speed of Mercy: A Spiritual Biography of Flannery O’Connor” by Jonathan Rodgers
“Elizabeth the Queen A Life of a Modern Monarch” by Sally Smith Bedell
I read a lot more, but these are the top ones.
Any particular books you’re looking to read in 2013?
I liked “American Gods” a lot more than “Neverwhere.” I’ve read the first three of the “Odd Thomas” series and have the fourth, but haven’t started it. I really like that character and Koontz’s voice. “Gilead” is another one of those books I’ve been saying I should read for years. Maybe this year…
I wonder if liking AG over Neverwhere is directly related to read order? I definitely think AG is overall a better book, but it’s not the one I plan to reread again and again. Neverwhere gets my fun vote. Some day I would love to hear your full reaction to it. I hope you’ve heard about the radio theater version being made right now with a killer British cast?
I purchased a copy of Odd Thomas this last year too. My dad has been telling me to read that one forever. I haven’t read Koontz at all and he said that’s where I should start. Love the premise. Your Ghost Box book synopsis seemed to have similar flavor.
Love the “Odd Thomas” series for the same reasons. 🙂 If you read “Gilead,” then read “Home” as well. It’s the same time frame, only from the POV from one of the other characters.
Mike, Delighted that Code Blue made your reading list for last year. Hope you enjoyed it enough to try a second helping of one of my novels.
Nice to know that there are others out there who read books, especially non-fiction work, in “chunks.” Don’t have to recall the plot and characters that way.
Best wishes for the new year.
My list is here, with the best ones marked. We read a couple of the same. 🙂
Here. https://windowsandpaperwalls.wordpress.com/2013/01/01/my-year-in-books-2012/
Great lists! The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield, is another one of those books I keep hearing about and really need to read.
Best reads of 2012…
Non-fiction –
Escaping the Cauldron by Kristine McGuire
Angels, Miracles, and Heavenly Encounters compiled by James Stuart Bell
Taking your small group off life support by Brad House
Fiction –
The 13th Tribe by Robert Liparulo
Nothing to Hide by Mark Bertrand
Rare Earth by Davis Bunn
Good to know that ‘The 13th Tribe’ was a quality read. I’ve been meaning to check that one out.
My favorite reads for 2012 were:
Fiction:
John Carter of Mars, by Burroughs
That Hideous Strength, by C.S. Lewis
The Once and Future King, by T.H. White
Mockingjay, by Collins
The Percy Jackson series, by Riordan
The Great Divorce, by C.S. Lewis (this was, admittedly, a reread)
The Great Gatsby, by Fitzgerald
Beowulf (another reread), the Heaney translation
Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet, by Shakespeare (again, rereads)
Odd and the Frost Giants, by Gaiman (reread)
Non-fiction:
Monsters & Critics, by Tolkien
Preface to Paradise Lost, by C.S. Lewis
On Writing, by Stephen King
Starlight Time and the New Physics, by Hartnett
The Secret History of the World, by Booth (probably the weirdest book I’ve ever read in my life and most wasted use of an amazing opening line ever!)
The Holy Kingdom, by Adrian Gilbert
Moses in the Hieroglyphs, by Grant Berkley
Definitely a pseudoscienctific reading year!
2012 was the first year in forever where I didn’t map out my reading in advance. This year, I have a map and it is the most exciting I’ve had in a while. Lovely to have wonderful books sitting so close by, waiting for you!
Oh yes, and I reread the Hobbit. Loved it twice as much as the first time I read it!
Melissa, so you hadn’t read ‘That Hideous Strength’ previously? I thought the book became a dull in the middle (for about 80 or so pages) but it’s still one of my absolute favourites. I enjoyed ‘Mockingjay’. Maybe that’s the wrong term to use. I thought it was well done and interesting and a fitting ending to the trilogy. It’s a pity that the first two thirds drag so much. Love ‘The Great Divorce’ – very thought-provoking. ‘On Writing’ was also a very good read.
If you like “That Hideous Strength,” you really need to read G.K. Chesterton’s Manalive and The Ball and The Cross. Ransom acts very much like Innocent Smith in Manalive, and the ending scene really reminded me of his “trial.” The Ball in the Cross gives us Trumbull, who MacPhee reminded me strongly of, and the whole idea of a secret society that is slowly taking over the world. Both make me wonder if Lewis wasn’t also influenced by them.
Starlight Time and the New Physics sounds like a book I need to read. My only concern with something like this is how well a science book published in 2007 holds up in 2013.
Mike, a year or so ago I read (for the first time) “Disturbing the Universe” by Freeman Dyson, first published in 1979, and it blew me away.
Mike, since the realm of theoretical physics changes almost not at all compared to the progression of other sciences, I found it to still be very relevant. There is also a DVD that accompanies the book that’s supposed to be easier to watch than the book is to read but I haven’t watched it yet.
Christian, nope. I had read Out of the Silent Planet a few years ago and then hastened to finish the whole trilogy before seeing John Carter in theaters this last year…since Ransom was quite possibly inspired by JC. While it was one of my favorite reads of 2012, I can’t say I loved the book. It was deepy strange, yet also deeply wonderful at times. I was really uncomfortable in many places and just didn’t like it, but then it also produced some of my all time favorite C.S. Lewis characters. My relationship with that book just isn’t simple. And you’re so right about not calling Mockingjay an “enjoyable read.” Of the whole trilogy it just seemed like the strongest offering. The writing was so much stronger than in Catching Fire and the imagery was as powerful as in any other classic dystopian fiction I’ve read – hints of Harrison Bergeron, 1984, Animal Farm. All of those made it in. And she took the protag into much more complex psychological realms than mere heroism, which I appreciated. She showed her protag experiencing levels of moral corruption (both consciously and subconsciously) that made the story feel much more poignant than if Katniss had been turned out to be another Mary Sue.
D.M., Manalive is on my reading list! It’s just so expensive – even in paperback – that I haven’t bought it yet! Most of his books are. I purchases Heretics this last year too, but I’m no dummy. I never read more than one non-fic by Chesterton in a year. I can manage his fiction combined with his non-fic, but I have to chew on his non-fic for long periods of time while/after reading them. I had not heard of Ball and Chain – but I have heard of those character names.
A few Fiction highlights from 2012:
Bradbury Stories: 100 of his most celebrated tales
The Hunger Games trilogy
The Moon Maid, and The Return of Tarzan by E.R. Burroughs
The Turn of the Screw (& other stories) Henry James
The Shadow of the Wind… Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Club Dumas… Arturo Perez Reverte
Madame Bovary… Gustave Flaubert
I look forward to hearing your reaction to “Foucault’s Pendulum.” I’m an Eco fan, and though I preferred “The Name of the Rose” a bit more, FP was also entertaining.
Alan,
I read Fahrenheit 451 for the first time in 2012. It was one of my favorite books of the year. I will have read some more of Bradbury.
Here’s my review of Fahrenheit 451:
http://kammbia1.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/book-review-21-ray-bradburys-fahrenheit-451/
Marion
Marion, I thought it was neat that you picked up on Bradbury’s words about the definition of quality books. That same section you quoted also jumped out at me when I read 451, and I particularly love the lines that come right after:
“You’d find life under the glass, streaming past in infinite profusion. The more pores, the more truthfully recorded details of life per square inch you can get on a sheet of paper, the more ‘literary’ you are. That’s *my* definition, anyway. Telling detail. Fresh detail. The good writers touch life often.”
And you’re right…451 was (deliberately, I think) a cold and sterile atmosphere. For something warmer, try “Something Wicked This Way Comes” or (of course) “Dandelion Wine.” Nobody paints the friendship bond of young boys like Bradbury.
Alan,
Thanks for the kind words on the review. I came away from after reading Fahrenheit 451 feeling like this was Bradbury’s love letter to books and he would be devastated if something like that occurred in real life. And how cold a world it would be in that scenario. The best speculative fiction novels always ask a What If question? Well, Fahrenheit 451 is one of the best in that regard.
I will add one of your suggestions for this year reading list for me.
Marion
Alan, I started “Foucault’s Pendulum” several years ago, really liked it, but for some reason stopped reading and it got lost in the shuffle. I’ve had it in my TBR stack again for the last six months. Eco seems like a densely literate writer. I love that style of writing, but it makes me wonder how he’s managed to have commercial success (assuming that literary fiction and commercial success really are antithetical).
David Brin’s The Postman was one of my favorite reads this past year. Thanks to Katherine Coble for piquing my interest in Brin’s writing. I also really enjoyed P. A. Baine’s Alpha Redemption. On the other hand, I had serious criticisms of it, but felt, all in all, that I had discovered somebody who could be a brilliant writer. Kat’s book Finding Angel was also a worthy read. I can’t remember most of what I read this past year, which is sad. I read a monkey ton of memoirs, most of which I didn’t like that much, and a monkey ton of Sci Am magazines, and a monkey ton of pop-science neurology and psychology books, all of which began to insult my intelligence after a while. The highlight of my year was Quantum Leap: How John Polkinghorne Found God in Science and Religion, by Dean Nelson and Karl Giberson.
Thanks for the shout-out, Jill!
And I did a whole top-of-2012 list on my blog a couple of weeks ago: http://www.katheckenbach.com/2012/12/top-ten-more.html
Jill, “Quantum Leap” sounds interesting. This year, I’d like to read a few more science / theology related books. Also, after having seen “The Postman” movie years ago, I would have not thought the book could be that great. Definitely going to take a look at it. I haven’t read enough post-apocalyptic lit.
The book is a completely different story. The movie–shudder. Quantum Leap is a short book you could read quickly. It was one of those beautiful books in which I felt that I had discovered a soul mate.
I mostly read fantasy and juvie fiction this year:
The Earth Painter, by Turner
Bid the Gods Arise, by Mullin
The Dragon’s Tooth, by Wilson
The Reality series by Copple
The Leviathan trilogy (steampunk), by Westerfield
Dresden books 3 and 4
Prophet by Larson
Plus a bunch of free ebooks that I applied the “first 50 page” rule. If it hasn’t grabbed me after 50 pages, I’m done. There was only one that I slogged all the way through (The Tidewalker), just because I wanted to see how bad it actually got. When the mermaids turned out to be Nephilim, that was bad. But when they go to Heaven and talk Jesus into beating the bad guy for them … that was worse.
The earth painter was pretty good, but man, that second book…I think she may have rushed it a bit too much, and that’s the one series I would have been completely okay if she made a trilogy out of it. She’s definitely an author to watch though.
Her second book’s been picked up by a small press and is going through revisions, so it might be a lot better here in its next release. 🙂
That’s great! I’ll have to keep an eye out for it then.
One of the good things about Goodreads is that I can finally log my reading and see what I did like. Most of my five star books are pretty idiosyncratic I see, so these are the ones in 2012 that I’d be listing:
FICTION
Hero, Second Class by Mitchell Bonds. If good Christian fantasy is rare, good humorous Christian fantasy is even rarer.
Caffeine by Ryan Grabow. I really connected with this book. Well done philosophical cyberpunk.
Generation X, by Douglas Coupland. Coupland’s been uneven in recent years, but his early stuff up to Girlfriend in a Coma is great, and Gen X is the book that not only coined the name for my generation, but detailed our struggle to find meaning in the world.
Alien Nine, by Hitoshi Tomizawa. It’s a really brutal deconstruction of the idea of Pokemon, mixed in with a tremendous amount of subtext about growing up. Yuri Otani is given a Borg and tasked with capturing all the random aliens that show up. But she’s terrified of it, and with good reasons.
I’d also say that this is the year I discovered Christian small presses and many different, great authors. So many liked and really liked books that it was amazing, and I’m wanting them all to make more things so they can take my monies. This includes you, Mike.
NONFICTION:
Otaku: Japan’s Database Animals by Hiroki Azuma. Really explains fan culture, and the new world where people create simulcra-things that aren’t entirely unique, but entirely derivative either. Think fan fiction.
The Inland Sea by Donald Richie. Great travelogue about a vanished Japan.
Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys over Girls and the Consequences of a World full of Men, by Mara Hvistendahl. You know a guy who goes on and on about too many people in the world? Give him this book. Chilling.
Interesting non-fiction reads, D.M. I’ve read some about the Population Myth and it is rather fascinating to see it translating into real time demographic declines. Also, “Otaku” sounds interesting. I still kind of puzzle over fan fiction.
They both are good books. Otaku is a bit dry and academic, but there’s some great insights. Unnatural Selection is really good. Sex ratios being lopsided can cause a lot of harm.
I read a lot of great books in 2012. My top favorite novels were Ghost on Black Mountain by Ann Hite, The House at Riverton by Kate Morton, and The Kitchen Daughter by Jael McHenry. I don’t read a whole lot of nonfiction, but Acedia & me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer’s Life by Kathleen Norris astounded me in small, digestible chunks for a good six months.
Brandy, “Ghost on Black Mountain” sounds interesting. I love Southern folk-lore tales. Would you consider this a horror story, or traditional ghost story? Or is it something else?
More ghosty than horror, I’d say, though there’s at least one gristly bit. I called it “deliciously creepy” in my Goodreads review, and it’s honestly one of the best stories I read in the last year. I bought a copy for someone as a Christmas gift, loaned out my copy, and will probably end up buying another to replace it, which is fine because I don’t mind supporting the author.
Best of 2012, fiction:
Sandman (comic series) by Neil Gaiman [stunningly brilliant]
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett [hilarious]
Eurydice (stageplay) by Sarah Ruhl [my theatre did this. LOVE.]
Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka (manga series) [retelling of AstroBoy manga – brilliant]
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak [tears upon tears]
Best of 2012, nonfiction:
Looking over my Goodreads, it appears I didn’t read any. (Though I’m not sure that’s true) I had a really good Humanities I textbook, though…
Books I never expected to be good but were exellent:
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
The Fault In Our Stars by John Green
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Marvel 1602 (comic book) by Neil Gaiman
I’m definitely a Gaiman fan now.
Looking forward to reading in 2013:
a large stack of Buffy, Angel, and Spike comics… which have been hit & miss so far
more John Green fiction
more Neil Gaiman fiction, particularly his upcoming The Ocean at the End of the Lane and the anniversary Sandman comic coming out this summer.
Ghostopolis and Bad Island by Doug TenNapel
random Batman, Superman, Avengers, etc comics
and the last book in the Auralia Thread series.
I’d like to try some Discworld too.
Yaaaaaaay, INCARCERON made your 2013 list! I hope you’ll review it when you’re done, Mike.
I’m terrible at keeping track of the books I read and I know this year I’ve read at least fifty or sixty, but here are a few recent ones off the top of my head:
THE PENDERWICKS AT POINT MOUETTE (seriously, if you love classic children’s literature and you haven’t read the Penderwicks series, you’re missing out in a big way)
MANDRAGORA by David McRobbie (an Australian YA novel about the Scottish immigration, with paranormal elements — not a bad read)
SHADOW AND BONE by Leigh Bardugo (a really entertaining Russian-inspired secondary-world fantasy with a romance that has me TERRIBLY CONFLICTED)
SERAPHINA by Rachel Hartman (one of those rare fantasy novels that actually deserves the hype — I thought I’d read everything I ever cared to read about dragons, but she proved me wrong)
CODE NAME VERITY by Elizabeth Wein (I cannot say enough about how clever, heart-wrenching, beautifully written, and generally fantastic a WWII historical novel this is)
UNSPOKEN by Sarah Rees Brennan (a gothic novel turned upside-down in the best sort of way, with a delightful go-getter heroine)
THE FRIDAY SOCIETY by Adrienne Kress (a fun steampunk adventure romp, which the author describes quite accurately as ‘a Victorian Charlie’s Angels without Charlie’)
THE OBSIDIAN MIRROR by Catherine Fisher (book one in her new Chronoptika series, which hasn’t yet grabbed me the way INCARCERON did, but I am curious enough about the blending of time travel, faery magic and weird machinery to read on)
I also read a smattering of non-fiction, mostly about the Albigensian crusade.
“SERAPHINA” sounds interesting. (Plus the cover looks cool!) I’ve never been a huge dragon fan, especially as they’re central to the story, but these dragons sound quite unique.
Also R.J., when will your next book be coming out? What do you have lined up, writing-wise, for 2013?
Mike,
I’m currently reading The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell that I started last month. I will qualify that as my favorite read in 2012. It’s the story of a Jesuit Priest leading a first contact mission to a distant planet and returned as the only survivor. He was blamed for its failure and is dealing with a crisis of faith. Excellent characters and a fascinating subplot with the Catholic Church trying to protect him and find out what happened on that mission simultaneously.
My other favorites I read in 2012 were The Opposite of Art by Athol Dickson, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, The Child Goddess by Louise Marley, and Bag of Bones by Stephen King. That was my first King novel and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.
Here’s the rest of my list:
http://kammbia1.wordpress.com/2012/12/29/wisdom-of-kammbia-3-12-marions-2012-book-reviews-year-in-review/
Marion
Marion, if you enjoyed “Bag of Bones,” could I suggest another (much shorter) King novel? Like BoB, “The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon” is suspenseful, not gross. My favorite King novels emphasize his gift at characterization (Lisey’s Story, From a Buick 8, Duma Key) and de-emphasize the blood & gore.
Alan,
Thanks for the suggestions on other Stephen King books. Appreciate that!
However, I’ve decided to do a reading resolution for 2013. The goal is to read one book a month plus an extra one for the bakers dozen. I have planned the entire year what I’m to going read and I want to see it if I can stick to it. I know there will be other books that people will suggest and I will be tempted to veer off my reading resolution highway. But, I thought this would be an interesting exercise to see if I can do it. LOL!!
Here’s my list:
http://kammbia1.wordpress.com/2012/12/19/wisdom-of-kammbia-3-11-marions-bakers-dozen-of-reviews-for-2013/
Marion
Alan,
I just bought a copy of Lisey’s Story and I will add it to my reading resolution list for 2o13.
I read a few reviews about this novel from authors varied as Michael Chabon to Nora Roberts to Nicholas Sparks about this novel. Interesting.
Thanks for the recommendation.
Marion
Marion, I’m REALLY interested in what you think of MDR’s _The Sparrow_ when you finish it.
Katherine,
I have about a hundred pages left on The Sparrow and I will post a full review on my blog next week.
Let me write so far (I hope the ending doesn’t ruin it….), it is best novel I’ve read for 2012. Excellent, rich characterization (I love the interplay between the liberal couple and the priest. LOL!) of the primary characters. I like the fact that MDR doesn’t sugarcoat the priest’s doubts and portrays a honest portrait of a religious person having a crisis of faith.
I will have a lot more to say on my review. Thanks for asking.
Marion
This is popping up in my email, so I’m seeing the comments and had to chime in. The Sparrow is one of my all-time favorite books. 🙂
My best of 2012:
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Black Magic: A Tale of the Rise and Fall of the Antichrist by Marjorie Bowen
Casino Royale by Ian Flemming
My worst of 2012:
The Sanctuary by Ted Dekker
An Outcast of the Islands by Joseph Conrad
Candide by Voltaire
Haha! It’s interesting that you put Ted Dekker’s The Sanctuary as your worst and I put it as my best. I read some good books in 2012 but the majority were rather average. I think The Sanctuary was much better than Dekker’s recent effforts in the past years (save Boneman’s Daughters and The Bride Collector).
The only Dekker books I’ve read are The Sanctuary and Thr3e. I was very disappointed with both. I’m pretty much a classics guy, though I love a good thriller as much as anybody, but I just cannot get into his writing. I know it sounds arrogant to say, but his books have a very manufactured feeling to me and bring nothing new to the table except for a Christian slant on a patchwork of cliches. I’d heard him talked up so much, I guess I was expecting to be blown away, not get served the same bland dish a million other authors keep cooking.
Of course this is just my personal opinion, and I know people take issue with some of the books that I like. In the end, books are just books, and there’s always another one waiting to be read.
I loved “Thr3e” (the book, the movie was ick), but I don’t get the idea that they’re manufactured. If you’re used to classics, sure they’re different (the writing style, focus etc.) but as far as page-turning thrillers go, I think he’s a quality storyteller and a decent writer (nothing special in the latter). It’s interesting that you say they’re a patchwork of cliches because I find Dekker’s works to be passionate and honest. He adds interesting twists and helps me think about aspects of my faith in a different light. I thought I was well-read but maybe I really do just read different books to you. Just curious. What do you think of Dean Koontz and Stephen King in the department of ‘writer’? I understand them to be better storytellers and writers but also more verbose at times (especially King). No hard feelings, just curious.
What novels do you enjoy? (I loved most of Stoker’s “Dracula”, especially the Fly Man scenes – creepy!)
Well my favorite book of all time is Lord of the Flies… I am drawn to really intense psychological stuff with a lot of action, violence, and atmosphere. I’ve only read Pet Sematary by King but I was quite impressed with that. I used to read a lot of sci-fi and Tom Clancy-style techno-thrillers when I was a teenager but after I got into the classics in college, it really influenced (warped?) by reading sensibilities. I don’t think Dekker is a bad writer, but I didn’t find his ideas to be unique or even that intriguing. Different strokes for different folks.
My movie tastes run the other way, though. I love Michael Bay and Roland Emmerich movies just for the sheer spectacle, and anything loud and explosive puts a smile on my face (can’t wait for the next Die Hard).
What works best, though, is when a writer or director can merge the two styles. In my opinion, the movie Apocalypse Now or Dracula are excellent examples of this synergy. I try to pursue this in my own writing, blending the atmosphere and melodrama of the classics with rapid-fire action and thrills. I know I’ve got a long way to go, but the more I read, the more I write. I try and cast my net as widely as I can, to help me refine my own writing in terms of what I like and don’t like.
Can you recommend other Christian authors who you think are truly unique? I will admit that my knowledge of the current crop of writers is limited (I live in China :-P).
In reading terms, 2012 wasn’t great for me. Some good books but not many. 2013 though, looks positively glorious!
My top Fiction reads of 2012 were:
1) The Bishop – Steven James
2) Bone – Jeff Smith
3) The Sanctuary – Ted Dekker
My top Non-Fiction reads of 2012 were:
1) Lost Thought – edited by Pearson Moore
2) Herge, Son of Tintin – Benoit Peeters
3) Alien Intrusion – Gary Bates
My 2013 Reading List
FICTION:
City Sidewalks – Jeremy McNabb (eBook – reading)
Subterranea – Mike Duran (eBook)
The Telling – Mike Duran
Illusion – Frank Peretti
Joy & Carnage – Jeremy McNabb (eBook)
The Blood Book– Ted Dekker (eBook)
Angel Fall – Coleman Luck
Brother Odd – Dean Koontz
The Queen – Steven James
The Prey – Michael Crichton
House of Leaves – Mark Z. Danielewski
Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Snowball’s Chance – Jeremy McNabb (eBook)
The Dark Tower series (Books 1-8) – Stephen King
The Idiot – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Circle series graphic novels – Ted Dekker
The Lost series graphic novels – Ted Dekker
We Have Always Lived in the Castle – Shirley Jackson
The Monstrumologist series – Rick Yancey
The Brothers Karamazov – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories – C.S. Lewis
A Game of Thrones – George R.R. Martin
Till We Have Faces – C.S. Lewis
The Man Who Was Thursday – G. K. Chesterton (reread)
Mortal – Ted Dekker
Unseen – T.L. Hines
Watcher in the Woods – Robert Liparulo
Various Charles Williams novels
Various eBooks
NON-FICTION:
How My Faith Survived the Church – Philip Yancey (reading)
Delighting in the Trinity – Michael Reeves
The Resurrection of the Son of God – N.T. Wright
Jesus and the Victory of God – N.T. Wright
The New Testament and the People of God – N.T. Wright
Orthodoxy – G.K. Chesterton
The Vision – Rick Joyner
Various eBooks
Mike,
I read Lost Mission by Athol Dickson in 2011 and I thought it was an excellent book. Then I read The Opposite of Art by him this year and I liked that one as well. He is becoming one of my favorite novelists.
I have River Rising on my reading resolution list for this year and I’m looking forward to it.
I have a question for you, Mike. Who are your favorite novelists that you want to read every time they publish a new book?
Marion
“River Rising”–really good book. “The Opposite of Art” is a book I want to read.
So many books, so little time. ::sigh::
Here’s a question for you since you finished River Rising: I started reading it, but gave up because the main character fits the Wiki definition of the Magical Negro stereotype in a shocking way, as though the author is compeltely unaware, or so completely aware that he did purposefully. Does Dickson turn this stereotype on its head at some point, or did a white male Christian author really pull out that ole song and dance for his primarily white Christian audience?
It’s been several years since I’ve read the book, so I’m going on memory here, but the question to ask is this: why is the character written this way? and you have to take into the equation setting and time frame the story is set in–in this case, 1927 Mississippi, in a sequestered small town that seems to be a utopia–but is it really? Dickson is too good an author to be ignorant of why he writes his characters the way he does–he has a reason and it serves the purpose of the story, as does some of the language. The main character is far more complex than you realize at this point. 🙂
The short answer to your question is yes, he does turn it, but I’m not going to say how. 🙂
I pulled this up from Amazon’s site since it’s been several years since I’ve read the book: “When, at the beginning of this novel, Rev. Hale Poser arrives in Pilotsville, La., the story appears to unfold in an all-too-familiar way: a stranger of humble means comes to a Southern town, scandalizes it and, in true Christ-figure fashion, changes the lives of everyone there forever. However, a series of twists and surprises quickly pull the narrative into unexpected territory that is at once entrancing and painful to behold. Set during the great Mississippi flood of 1927, Dickson’s novel does not simply explore racism, faith and poverty, but somehow inhabits them, mostly by way of Hale’s journey. Told from the perspective of several characters, Hale’s first days in Pilotsville—where readers quickly learn he has come to find the parents he never knew—reveal something close to utopia: black and white residents working and living together congenially, and almost equally, while the beneficent white man who essentially owns the town keeps all the ugliness of Southern racism at bay. Sadly, nothing is quite as it seems, and the miracles, revelations and moments of despair that make up the bulk of this book lead its characters and readers to some disturbing conclusions. Atmospheric, well-paced and powerfully imagined, this novel is reminiscent of Octavia Butler’s Kindred and deserves similar readership and respect. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.” http://www.amazon.com/River-Rising-ebook/dp/B009AZM8K6/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1357425805&sr=1-1&keywords=river+rising
Okay, I might go ahead and finish it. Thanks. 🙂
Welcome. 🙂
These lists are always a treat for me. It’s like a bit of a late Christmas present, hearing about new good things to read.
I’d say my top books of 2012 were
FICTION:
1. Blood Song by Anthony Ryan
2. All of the Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold, but in particular _Memory_
3. Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
LEISURE NON-FICTION:
(I read a LOT of non-fiction for research purposes; mostly monographs and other dry, scholarly things. I don’t ever count those in my reading lists.)
1. 1493: Uncovering The New World Christopher Columbus Created
2. 13 Things That Don’t Make Sense: The Most Baffling Scientific Mysteries Of Our Time
3. Fearfully And Wonderfully Made
Just ordered, “13 Things That Don’t Make Sense.” I find it strangely refreshing to read about scientific mysteries, pseudoscience, fringe science, the unexplained, and the cosmic puzzles.
Ah! I’ve had this book title (13 things) pinned to my corkboard for over a year. Now I have another reason to check it out!
I just now saw that _Focault’s Pendulum_ is on your list for 2013!
I’m so excited I’m bouncing up and down.
Can’t wait to read what you think of it.